On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 8:12 PM, Shaul Dar <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > I hope you can help me with the following. I apologize for the length of > this message... > > My organization (non-profit) has a need for what I think of as a > distributed, virtual file system. The idea is to abstract logical files and > folders from their physical location. I.e. logical file = handle, physical > file = data. > > There are 2 main user categories: (1) normal users = content creators (e.g. > video, audio and docs) need to deposit files into logical folders (i.e. > create "logical files"), and give them properties (e.g. file content type, > intended audience). Based on predefined rules, the file should > automatically be moved to 1 or more physical servers in the 3 worldwide > locations we have, and stored there using the local file system (Windows, > Linux etc). (2) Administrators need to control file distribution, i.e. > mapping of logical files to physical replicas (e.g. delete/add replicas). > > We need a Web GUI for users and admins. Should support the logical folder > system (create space, create/delete move folder etc), search (by file name, > size, date created or last modified, and possibly hash value), and a > coarse-grain permissions system (e.g. user vs. admin). The back-end should > perform the necessary file transfers, e.g. add/fetch a replica (reliably), > preferably over HTTP (i.e. OS agnostic). In between should be a mapping > layer that maps logical files to physical files. All metadata should be kept > in a DB (MySQL). > > To clarify, I am aware of distributed file systems (*FS), this is not what I > am looking for. I am looking rather for (1) management piece (Web based > interface) described above + (2) the physical transfer layer, and (3) the > layer that maps logical/physical files. > > So my questions are: does JackRabbit provide what we want? Having read thru > the documentation, I am still unclear on whether it is a framework or a > full-blown system, and does it have only back-end components or also a > front-end. In short, I'm trying to understand how much we would need to > develop? I saw that Day is developing a commercial system, but for a hefty > sum - is there a free alternative? Also I understand that JackRabbit > currently supports JCR 1.x, which does not include distribution across > locations? Is there an estimate when it will support JCR 2.x, i.e. > WAN distribution?
what makes you think JCR 2.X is about WAN distribution? cheers stefan > > The other concept I've seen is the WebDav spec, which seems to be about 10 > years old. I don't know if there are any implementation (e.g. > http://ftp.ics.uci.edu/ > <http://goog_1234415942981>pub/ietf/<http://goog_1234415942981> > webdav <http://goog_1234415942981>/ <http://goog_1234415942981> > http://ftp.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/webdav/implementation.html), or systems > built on top of it, that provides what I want. > > Any suggestions, corrections,feedback? You are welcome to mail me... > Thanks! > > -- Shaul > > Dr. Shaul Dar > Email: [email protected] > Web: www.shauldar.com >
